Rampaging pigs destroy property, threaten neighborhood

Animal control, with the help of jail inmates rounded up the ten pigs that were running loose in a Harrison subdivision last week.

Pigs being raised in a Harrison subdivision are creating a real problem for neighbors, Bernadette Giannola reported.

She lives in Northland Acres off Cranberry Lake Road just west of the Clare County Animal Shelter. She said the ten pigs were brought into the subdivision last year and are being raised by a neighbor.

First he had them on his one-acre lot right in the subdivision, but he was told by Hayes Township that he couldn’t keep them there, she said. “So he moved them a few feet onto his adjoining 17 acres.”

She said the pigs are being kept in a pen full of feces and mud and don’t even have any shelter from the weather. “If it is rainy or the wind is coming from that direction, the smell is really awful,” she said. She said she burns scented candles every day to help eliminate the odor.

Last week the pigs got out and were terrorizing the neighborhood. “They got into my gardens and destroyed most of my exotic plants,” she said. “I was told by an officer from the Sheriff’s Department that the only thing I could do about it is file a lawsuit.”

Animal Shelter officials, with the help of jail inmates finally rounded the rampaging pigs up and got them back into their pen.
Giannola said she is worried about neighborhood children if this happens again. “When they were out, one even chased me and caused me to fall, what would happen in the two-year old that lives nearby was out and that happened?”

She said she has had problems in the past with the neighbor that led to two Personal Protection Orders against him. “I found one of my cats burned up on his property,” she said.

“These pigs belong on a farm, not in the middle of our subdivision, she said. “He is allowed to have these pigs, and there doesn’t seem to be much we can do about it, but the smell is bad.” She said she is worried that it may cause health issues. “Some of my neighbors are banding together. We are planning to attend the Township meeting and ask for help with this issue.”